The British Parliament held a special event to celebrate Indian-origin MPs and commemorated Dadabhai Naoroji as the first Asian to be elected to the House of Commons way back in 1892.
The event, organised by advocacy group Operation Black Vote (OBV), brought together many of the 41 black and minority ethnic (BME) MPs at an event in the Parliament complex in London on Wednesday.
"Today we celebrate a record number of BME MPs in Parliament. British politics and British society greatly benefits when we can utilise diversity's teaming talent pool. That's why today we are announcing that in the months ahead we will begin a new MP and business shadowing scheme," OBV director Simon Woolleysaid.
Naoroji's election dates back to when individuals from India were welcomed to the British Parliament as imperial guests and some became members of the House of Commons.
In 1892, Naoroji, an educator and cotton trader born in Khadak, near Mumbai, was elected Liberal MP for Finsbury Central.
Three years later Sir Mancherjee M Bhownaggree, son of a merchant, also from Mumbai, was elected to Parliament for Bethnal Green.
Whereas Naoroji was a firm advocate of Indian independence, Bhownagree approved British rule and opposed the idea of Indian Home Rule, according to the parliamentary archives.
"We should celebrate so many MPs now, but also need to inspire new communities such as the Somalis who also want to be in parliament. There is much to do," said Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East and one of the longest serving Indian-origin MPs in the UK.
Cabinet minister of justice Shailesh Vara added: "I am the son of a carpenter who came here in the 1960s. I remember the racism in those days, but Britain has come a long way."
"We must pay tributes to this country that has made it possible for a person like me not only to be an MP but also a minister. There were no role models in politics for our community earlier; now there are so many of us on the front bench of both parties," Vara said.
A record number of BME politicians were elected to Parliament at the May 2015 elections, up to 41 from 25 in 2010.
"There is a record number of black and ethnic minority MPs, more women than ever before, and an increasing number of openly gay MPs. But we still have so much further to go," added UK home secretary Theresa May.
The OBV event was held to mark the increase of BME MPs from just five in 1996 when the organisation began, to a current record number of 41, which is 6.3 per cent of all MPs.
